When Green Music Australia took part in AusArt Day in October last year, the team wanted see what was possible when the music community came together around a shared fundraising moment. The results exceeded their expectations.
‘Green Music Australia is working at the intersection of two things we care deeply about: the future of music and our planet,’ says Julianna Toth, Green Music Australia’s Partnerships & Communications Manager.
‘AusArt Day gave us the opportunity to introduce more people to that work and invite them directly to support it.’
Green Music Australia and AusArt Day – quick links
Boosting donations – and awareness
Green Music Australia is a registered charity, dedicated to harnessing the cultural power of the Australian music scene to create a greener, safer future. They raised almost $21,000 from 120 donors on AusArt Day 2025, including 82 new supporters who may well prove to be the most valuable outcome of the dedicated philanthropy day.
The fundraising campaign also reached more than 112,000 people across social media, substantially expanding awareness of Green Music Australia’s work connecting the music industry with climate action.
For Green Music Australia, perhaps the most revealing outcome of AusArtDay was the number of people who were finding out about the organisation for the first time. ‘One of the biggest learnings was the strength of the response from people who were new to Green Music Australia,’ says Toth enthusiastically.
‘Bringing in 82 new donors was particularly significant for us because it showed that a giving day can be about much more than asking our existing supporters to make another donation.’
It’s a message echoed by other participants that year. For actor Stephen Noonan, the 2025 giving day provided a national platform, ‘connecting my new work with both existing supporters and new donors who believe in what I’m creating’.
Beth Neate, CEO of Guildhouse, South Australia’s peak body for visual art craft and design, added: ‘As a team, we had great fun participating in the fundraising campaign. It has helped our staff and board to feel more confident to speak about our work, has mobilised our artist members, and has raised the profile of the important work we do – inviting more supporters to get involved.’
Strengthening culture
Organised by Creative Australia, the national giving initiative brings arts organisations, artists and audiences together around a collective fundraising moment – and while one day of donations is always meaningful, the broader ambition is to strengthen the culture of philanthropy to nurture and support Australian arts and creativity.
Last year was the first AusArt Day and it brought together 323 participants. Together they received $2.4 million from more than 5600 donations. These numbers suggest there is a clear appreciation of the importance of arts philanthropy. What is really interesting is what happens after that flurry of fundraising activity.
Green Music Australia says their success in 2025 opened the door to relationships that will extend well beyond AusArt Day and those donations. During this year’s event on 22 October, they are aiming to raise $30,000 while taking a more strategic approach to individual giving and showing that there is a sustainable community of people who believe music can play a role in climate action.
For Toth, there is a natural connection between the two. ‘Music has an enormous cultural reach and the capacity to influence audiences, industry practices and communities,’ she says. ‘AusArt Day gives us a moment to communicate that bigger picture while also asking people to take … very practical action to support our ongoing work.’
Nurturing future relationships
That combination of the cultural and the practical is very important. Arts organisations are accustomed to making the case for the value of their work, but nurturing individual giving requires a different kind of relationship with audiences, and a specific proposition that can turn engagement into a tangible commitment.
For Green Music Australia, AusArt Day also showed how a fundraising appeal can move beyond an organisation’s established or expected constituency. The 82 new donors are a valuable group of people with whom they can continue the conversation into the future. And ultimately they are all people who can become ambassadors for their work.
With this year’s AusArt Day coming up later this month, Toth encourages participating arts organisations to think beyond that one day. ‘A successful giving day isn’t just about what happens on the day itself. The preparation, storytelling, donor relationships and follow-up are just as important.’
Gillian Mercer, Creative Australia’s Director Business Development and Partnerships, agrees. ‘For many artists and organisations, the people who discover you through AusArt Day could become supporters for years to come,’ she says.
It is a useful reminder that philanthropy in the arts is rarely just about one moment. The giving day may last just 24 hours but building a community of supporters takes much longer.
The ambition this year for Green Music Australia is not simply to raise more money, although that’s always appreciated. It’s also about furthering the connections made in 2025 and creating a larger, more sustainable community of support to continue its work.
‘We’re excited to build on the momentum of last year’s campaign,’ says Toth. ‘We want to make AusArt Day 2026 a bigger, more connected, and more sustainable fundraising moment for Green Music Australia.’
